


a sign of hope

by belforma



Category: Lost Odyssey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 10:52:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belforma/pseuds/belforma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaim does not intend to fall in love with Sarah, but is grateful he does.  A short, sentimental bunch of words on Kaim's loves, losses, and eventual contentedness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a sign of hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lassarina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lassarina/gifts).



> i haven't played lost odyssey in a very long time and don't have it available to me, so i'm especially sorry if any of this fic conflicts with canon. that said, i hope it's as enjoyable to read as it was to write! kaim and sarah have been one of my favorite pairings ever since i played the game, and it was really fun to think about their relationship since the game sort of shafted it in favor of their dynamic with the kids.
> 
> and merry(?) yuletide!

**i.**

A thousand years is ample time to fall in love, experience death, grieve, and begin again -- like so many other cycles Kaim engages in, and so many other cycles he’d prefer to avoid altogether.

The mortal world is as it is, though, and mortals are remarkable.

A thousand years later -- even five hundred years later, he must be worn through and through; he is “immortal,” but only because his time and “mortal” time do not align, and one year stretched out into a thousand is as taxing as it would be for any other spirit. Still, for his hundreds of years of knowing better, he is drawn to mortals, their stories, their capabilities, and grieves.

(This is not, and never has been, a trait exclusive to Kaim Argonar and his wanderlust. The queen of Numara could live a thousand lifetimes and still join her people in mourning; the righteous buccaneer of the high-seas could recruit a thousand good men and still honor the loss of a former crew; and the humble sorceress of Tosca could heal a thousand wounds and still strive for better cures, stronger salves.)

**ii.**

Of all of the immortals, Sarah is both the most accessible and the least accessible. Ming is easy to find, but busy with matters of royalty, and Seth is both impossible to pinpoint at any given time and in a constant state of adventure -- but Sarah quite likes seclusion, and finds it lends well to her studies, and is frequently right where Kaim expects her to be if he’s found her once.

Their relationship is a gradual development. Kaim would not realize until many decades later, perhaps by the time he would be furnishing their manor outside of Tosca, that this was a blessing worth cherishing in itself, after so many years of feeling as though lovers and loss went hand-in-hand.

Many times, Kaim does not intend to meet Sarah, and does not expect to meet her, but finds her at the forefront of a small village in the middle of a grand war. When she is not on a prospective battlefield, he finds her modest and shy, but she is always different when he meets her during a war. She is confident, and composed, and makes bold claims about how she won’t allow harm to come to these people. Kaim only needs to hear it once to understand she means it.

Afterward, she retreats to a small home, one that’s always filled with books, lit warmly, and scented like flowers, even after the soldiers have come and gone. Not even Sarah is a stationary immortal, and sometimes villages dwindle and die for reasons not even she can control, but every house she owns feels innately mortal -- well-lived in, cherished.

The more Kaim learns about Sarah, the more frequently he ends up meeting her outside of prospective battlefields.

**iii.**

Kaim learns they are very different immortals in so many bodies of thought, and learns this augments their compatibility. He is weary, exhausted, and unable to settle; he tires of his wanderlust, but cannot find a reason to put it to rest. There is nothing to ground him until he falls in love with Sarah and her devotion to study, and learning, and making a place for herself to exist in the world. When they fall in love, she is in love with Tosca. This time, she does not make a place for herself; they make a place for the both of them.

Of course, Sarah does the majority of the decorating, because she is a passionate scholar, a lover of knowledge, and an enthusiast for both the functional and the beautiful, and her husband only really needs a bed for them to lay in. Kaim is not actually sure what some of the items she installs in their house are, but Sarah explains with great fervor how this one is an astrological instrument, and that one was used half a millennia ago as a fortunetelling device, and--!

She gardens. They garden, once Sarah shows him how, because Kaim has worked so many jobs, but has not tended flowers, not with enough delicacy and love the way Sarah does. He’s not sure where Sarah’s quiet vim and vigor comes from, or how it stayed with her. He thinks back on centuries of loss and sorrow and recounts the times he could hardly bear another village, another war, another plague, but she seems enthused with the world, now and always.

She is enthused with Kaim’s travels, too; she is empathetic and soothing, and other times excited and chatty, and writes brief entries about his stories in her journals, recordkeeping an entire immortal life. Kaim stays awake at night trying to forget; Sarah writes pages upon pages trying to remember.

It doesn’t take even half a century for him to believe his immortal life is not necessarily the curse he believed it to be.

**iv.**

Kaim does not stop travelling altogether, but he loses any love of mercenary work he had left. Most of his travels are short-lived and practical -- for instance, moving shipments between Tosca and Saman, aiding caravans and travelers. If he and Sarah were not already plenty well-loved, they would endear themselves to the mortals in what he would equate to the blink of an eye.

They are, though -- well-loved, that is. Kaim is a hero in his own right, and he’s sure Sarah never likes her seclusion any less, never quite prefers something over reading a musty old tome on the balcony, but she is fond of the tiny mountain village, too, and fond of taking walks down to see the people. They find they are both very fond of children, and the children are some of their biggest fans.

Kaim is familiar with the concept of home, the same way a fish may be familiar with land. He knows ‘home’ exists, and can associate several ideas with it, almost all of them gathered from the mortals he’s met and his travels. His understanding is lacking, though; a place of permanent residence is only ideal sometimes for such an unnatural lifespan, and grows cold and lonely serving only one person.

The concept begins to come together, then, with Sarah. That feels very, very mortal. Almost embarrassingly so. A place of permanent residence is likely a bit too structured and logical for ‘home,’ and he can’t be faulted for that -- the discovery of emotions, after all, was one of the most important parts of observing this world. In that light, he finds ‘home’ does not link to a physical place at all, but to Sarah. He must have understood that, too, in some way; he has met many people who leave their ‘homes’ to live with their loved ones, to make new homes, and build new families.

He thinks their house is lovely. He is proud of it, and enjoys the scenery, and thinks the people of Tosca are kind and simple, and that is not a bad thing. If he thinks about it, though, any house would do, as long as Sarah is by his side. This is not really a new feeling, but maybe something he had never considered before, thoughts lost in the flow of time and its tendency to tear his loved ones away before he has spent even a hundredth of his life with them.

He does not say these things to Sarah, but he has a feeling she understands them. She is keen and observant and very eager to learn Kaim, just as she has learned ancient languages and magics and entire customs.

Of course, their relationship is spoken of only on plain terms. (Well -- sometimes, Sarah dabbles in poetry.) There are many, many “I love you”s, and at least twice as many kisses, not counting affectionate gazes, soft smiles, embraces, gentle scoldings -- laughter. Most people would not consider their life together an exciting one, but it is filled with happiness.

After a thousand years of love, loss, and grieving, a life filled with simple pleasures and happiness is more than enough.


End file.
